So, you want to hunt BIG red stags, but they have to be free-range, plus you want the option of using a bow or muzzleloader? Oh, and you don’t want to spend $10,000 either? Well, there’s a place in Argentina that promotes all that and more. It’s called the Poitahue Ranch, and I learned about it from subscriber Scott Karriker, who hunted there just this past April. The ranch is located 400 miles southwest of Buenos Aires in La Pampa province and encompasses 70,000 acres, 20,000 of which were only recently added. Poitahue is a historic, 100-year-old working cattle ranch, and the owner is president of the cattleman’s association there. He bills the place as among the first Argentine hunting operations in La Pampa to cater to bow and muzzleloader hunters as well as rifle hunters.

Seems restrictions on archery equipment were lifted in La Pampa only a few years ago, where the arcane view was that bows were something poachers could easily use to hunt undetected. Once the restrictions were removed, Poitahue began accepting archery and blackpowder hunters, along with its rifle hunting clientele. At the time, to be truthful, the ranch had no real idea how to cater to these latter groups. Enter American hunter Michael Malek, who was among the very first archery clients at Poitahue three years ago and who now represents the place in the United States. Malek managed to kill a good 5 x 5 stag the last day of his hunt, but says the guides were using techniques best suited to rifle hunters, getting him within 70 to 80 yards of stags when 40 to 50 yards was a more appropriate distance. Malek, who had just retired, proposed to the owner that he could help him capture a larger portion of the American hunting market if he allowed him to spend some time there tweaking his hunting program and training his staff to guide for bow and muzzleloader hunters. The result is an all-around hunt program that caters to everyone.....